Is the MUMN racist and xenophobic, or does it have something to say about this too?
Doesn’t the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses have the time or the inclination to make a ruddy fuss about this, as it is doing with the terrible, overwhelming burden of a few patients from Libya who are apparently crippling the system?
Or is the fuss about the Libyan patients motivated by racism, xenophobia and partisan politics, while the MUMN has no issue with the families of these 80 Maltese people who are dumped in hospital?
They say nothing about Maltese people taking up 80 beds unnecessarily because their families “refuse to take them back”, but five wounded Libyan people are cause for a riot.
timesofmalta.com, this evening:
Patients not accepted home after their release from hospital
Between 50 and 80 patients are being kept in hospital every day because their relatives are not accepting them back, Health Minister Joseph Cassar said during question time in Parliament this evening.
He said the problem of hospital overcrowding and patients waiting for beds was among the most pressing and complex problems being faced at Mater Dei Hospital.
(…)
The hospital’s policy was to respect the dignity of the patients and such people were not sent home when they were not accepted, Dr Cassar said.
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Is anyone watching Mintoffian ex-minister Joe Grima ‘s right now on One TV?
I wonder wether he and Tony Zarb lived in Malta in the 1981/1987 era?
Yes, the question this week is whether we live in democracy or a ‘dittatorjat pulit’.
Guess whose blog was mentioned in the opening feature?
Selective amnesia.
Selective amnesia or the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
Hope that 80% of their NI pension will be deducted immediately like they do at old people’s homes
It is.
Charge them hospital bills with interest which transfer to their blood relatives. That ought to the solve the problem.
It’s difficult to do such a thing. The medical profession is bound by certain ethics which are enforced to maintain patient dignity.
If their relatives “don’t want to take them back” (as though these people are objects), the majority have a perfectly good reason as to why (such as jobs, their families to raise, or the relatives being too old to do the heavy lifting).
Enforcing hospital bills not only sends the message that those incapable of caring for themselves are not worthy of free medical treatment, but will cause relatives to resent them, which may in turn create a problem of depression and other mental illnesses, creating an even bigger burden on the health department’s fees.
Anyway 80% of their pension is revoked after having spent 90 days in a public hospital, be it Mater Dei or SVPR, so in reality, they are paying up themselves.
Maybe respite homes (such as SVPR or KGH) should look into expansion, as while social cases do need monitoring, it creates a shortage of acute beds when they are kept in Mater Dei.
However, one should note that as soon as the patient is fit to leave MDH but for any reason cannot go home, they are immediately added to a waiting list for respite care.
50-80 beds not being available in a place the size of Malta is incredible. Can anything be done about it?
Dee,
Ma hemm l-ebda dubju li Joe Grima ma kienx jezizti go Malta f`dak iz-zmien ghax fejn ahna ma stajniex ikollna video camera hu kien ikollu ghal wahda tnejn fil-Mercedes u biex iktar juri kemm hu bully kien ihalihom fit-tieqa ta’ wara fejn jarhom kullhadd.
For Saviour Balzan, the information given by the minister is not newsworthy.
Lou Bondi summarised that programme “surreal” – I could hardly believe my ears.
Maybe the problem with MUMN is its president who seems to have a political agenda.
Surreal AND Kafkesque.
An insult to anyone over 30 who remembers the Golden Mintoff era.
What would the MUMN say or do if, God forbid, a major disaster were to hit Malta? Have they no pity for people who went through hell? Their comments are revolting in the circumstances.